‘Councillors can’t obstruct illegal construction demolition’

Kolkata: In the wake of reports of resistance posed against Building department officials during a demolition drive, Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Firhad Hakim has assured that the alleged illegal construction in Metiabruz will be demolished.

The civic body is apparently struggling to deal with demolition of illegal constructions as recently a video went viral which purportedly showed the councillor of Ward 137, Wasim Ansari posing resistance to the civic body engineers who had gone to demolish a six-storey structure in Masjid Talab Lane in Metiabruz. Millennium Post has not verified the authenticity of the video footage.

A commotion prevailed at the spot with KMC officials allegedly facing intimidation by the councillor and his aides. It was learnt that a team of four sub-assistant engineers and a demolition squad went to the spot with a demolition order approved by the Mayor and the municipal commissioner. The structure allegedly came up without any building permit from the civic body.

The demolition team faced resistance when they began demolition of the top floor since residents had already shifted into the rest of the floors. Sources said that the KMC officials were also threatened by the crowd that gathered there. They were told that they will be pushed down from the terrace.

Reacting to this development, Mayor Firhad Hakim told the press that no one can stop demolition of that building. Citing the example of the collapse of the illegal under-construction building at Garden Reach’s Azhar Mollah Bagan area which killed 13 people in March, he said such structures pose life risk to the people.

Hakim had earlier clarified that councillors have no power to stop demolition of unauthorised structures once a municipal order is issued for razing it down.